Anything & Everything ADHD

Gary's Blog (22)

Those Pesky Bushels

It's weird how things turn out. When I was a child I was interested in medicine. My mother suggested I become a doctor but I was terrified I'd lose my first patient. Of course I know now that it doesn't work that way but I never did become a doctor. Instead I took first aid courses, joined Search and Rescue, got up to Advanced Wilderness First Aid, became and actor and now teach at the medical school. But I'm still not a doctor. I also wanted to become a maths professor. Too bad I didn't have… Continue

Added by Gary on November 12, 2009 at 12:57pm — 2 Comments

Exercise and AD(H)D

I just read an article in the medical journal to which I subscribe that I thought would be of interest. Below are the main points: - Attention is mediated by the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine. - In patients with ADD these chemicals are present in reduced amounts. - Exercise increases the amount of norepinephrine and dopamine as well as other neurochemicals. - Muscles aren't the only things that grow with exercise. Over time, exercise improves the system that provides these neuro… Continue

Added by Gary on October 14, 2009 at 2:24pm — 11 Comments

Ribose, fatigue and fibromyalgia

Even thought I'm certain that I was 18 just last week, I've also noticed increased fatigue in recent months. My doctor did some blood tests and couldn't find anything wrong so we assume that it's old age creeping up on me. On the other hand, I have a strange and whimsical biochemistry so I thought maybe there's something else going on. I heard about ribose (AKA d-ribose) on a body building site and, as usual, the online reviews varied between "hoax", "inconclusive" and "works great." Nothing… Continue

Added by Gary on October 6, 2009 at 1:30pm — 5 Comments

Acting, like I know what I'm doing

In my last posting I had just done an American accent workshop. At the workshop one of my acting coaches asked if I belong to ACTRA yet. No, not enough film credits to join the union. Hmm, he said, we'll have to get you some speaking roles. The next morning I got an e-mail from him for a casting call for an independent film called "Fart School." If you're like me your first thought was that this probably has all the intellectual content of Porky's, despite knowing that the local art college st… Continue

Added by Gary on September 30, 2009 at 12:26pm — 8 Comments

'Merkn, huh?

Last weekend I got to exercise my brain. Oi vey. First, my voice coach was coming to town to do a workshop. I registered and sent off my cheque. After several E-mails to her Right Hand Man, Friday night rolled around and I still didn't know where the workshop was. So I called her. She panicked because the workshop had been cancelled and her assistant was supposed to contact everyone. Oh bother. Now, my lovely wife and I were supposed to go camping with friends that weekend but since my coach i… Continue

Added by Gary on July 2, 2009 at 12:25pm — 3 Comments

Spazatron 3 -- Attack of the ninja studs

The sound booth is going fairly well although slowly because everything has to be perfect (darned physics!) and it's a lot like building a ship in a bottle -- from within the captain's cabin. The outer north and west walls are finished. I had to frame the south wall so I could figure out where the door and ventilation goes but I can't install it yet or I won't have enough space to do anything else. It's leaning against the centre beam of the garage, waiting its turn. Bear in mind that the sout… Continue

Added by Gary on June 24, 2009 at 11:42am — 7 Comments

Snoo

As in the old joke on a M*A*S*H episode: Hawkeye: Retractor... scalpel... snoo. Nurse: Snoo? What's snoo? Hawkeye: Not much. What snoo with you? You know that law of magic that says that if you know something's true name then you have power over it? It works in construction too. I'm building my sound booth. I found a local supplier of softboard. At least that's what we call it in England. I tried calling it Low Density Fibreboard (LDF, as opposed to MDF) but both names got blank stares. Finally… Continue

Added by Gary on May 30, 2009 at 11:33am — 3 Comments

Request for techniques

I get into the strangest things. The other day I was chatting with one of my medical students and I asked her how they are taught to control violent patients. The answer was (a) wait until you are working at a hospital and ask the old-timers how they do it or (b) call an orderly. Yes, once again, I've agreed to teach a course. This time self defence for doctors. The problem is that this solves a very different problem than the normal self defence course. Normally you assume something like the… Continue

Added by Gary on April 20, 2009 at 12:31pm — 11 Comments

Odd jobs

As most of you know, I'm an actor. This can lead in some very strange directions. For example, teaching at medical school. At some point in a medical student's training they have to actually talk to and lay hands on a real human being. Sophisticated dummies only go so far. Medical schools hire people to pretend to be patients for practice. The interesting thing is that our school hires only professional actors. The theory is that we (a) can portray things like hysterica more accurately (b) are… Continue

Added by Gary on March 19, 2009 at 9:22pm — 5 Comments

The Return of Spazatron or How I Learned to Juggle

Having pets, we are told, is very therapeutic. We have three cats. One (Polyester) is an old man of 20 who gets wet cat food in the mornings. The other two are frisky 2 year old brothers named Romulus and Remus. My lovely wife usually feeds Polyester on the kitchen counter so the others don't bug him. If he's disturbed then he won't start eating again. After he's eaten the brothers get his leftovers and we have breakfast. Usually we leave a bit of milk in the bowls for the moggies. She's away… Continue

Added by Gary on March 5, 2009 at 11:16pm — 4 Comments

My Secret Identity

Most of the time his friends know him as the Mild Mannered Martial Artist, Gary. A writer by day, Gary goes out in the evening and performs amazing feats of not-quite falling over when Yuka-sensei (AKA "the Yukanator") decides that the class needs more work on the basics. But when danger looms and innocent bystanders are in need of a good laugh, he turns into SPAZATRON! Unlike other super heroes who require a special sword, amulet or costume, SPAZATRON needs only common household items to tran… Continue

Added by Gary on January 26, 2009 at 4:06pm — 11 Comments

Idiots on TV (mercifully short grumpy rant)

Some commercials really piss me off. We saw one the other day about a sports program to help children from warn-torn countries suffering from PTSD. It shows a line of black children with a voice over about kids being recruited as soldiers. There's an adult hand holding a .38 cal revolver pointed at them. Back to the line of kids, the voice says that some organisation has started sports programs to help the children. The revolver fires and it's supposed to be a starting pistol. The kids start ra… Continue

Added by Gary on January 11, 2009 at 10:47am — 11 Comments

Being Normal

I have come to the realisation that, for very good reasons, I'll never be completely normal. This is both good and bad. Ever since I found out about ADHD I've been comparing it with diabetes. There are some very close similarities and some irritating differences. Undiagnosed diabetics feel better when they regulate the amount of sugar they eat, just like us and distractions. Diabetics can lead pretty normal lives with the right medication, just like us. Mild diabetes can be controlled by natur… Continue

Added by Gary on January 10, 2009 at 12:17pm — 13 Comments

Murder, He Wrote

I'm going to attempt to document the Great Authing (hey, fishermen fish, teachers teach, authors auth) to try to keep me on track. The project: Write a serial killer novel that is realistic (a police officer can read it and not want to throw it across the room), different (the killer is SO not Hannibal Lector) and set in Calgary wherein the local police solves the case without the FBI or RCMP riding to the rescue. Not even a whiff of CSI-isms. Problems: All of the writer's guide… Continue

Added by Gary on January 3, 2009 at 6:30pm — 6 Comments

TOP SECRET

I'd like to share a military secret about New Year resolutions: Big results are built on smaller results. When you first enlist you do whatever you are told by everyone else because, frankly, you don't even know enough to be dangerous. If you watch and listen then soon you know a few things. How to keep an area policed (an excellent field skill where hygiene can keep you alive). How to maintain your rifle. How the military is organised. How various things are done. Who you would follow into a… Continue

Added by Gary on January 2, 2009 at 12:52pm — 4 Comments

Mathematics for ADDers

Mathematicians use the word "normal" to describe something that is perpendicular, as in "straight up is normal to the Earth's surface." That means that we're all normal: At right angles to everything else. Happy New Year to all and sundry! Continue

Added by Gary on December 31, 2008 at 12:10am — 9 Comments

Complications

I've been wondering for some time about the co-morbidities and complications of ADHD. In other words, separate conditions that tend to go along with ADHD or are caused by it. For example, depression and ADHD are separate disorders but I notice that quite a few ADDers have (or have had) depression. Is it really depression (a neurochemical imbalance) or sadness (not being happy because having ADHD frequently sucks)? Is depression really more common among ADDers or is it just that both depression… Continue

Added by Gary on December 30, 2008 at 3:40pm — 14 Comments

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Candid photography?

I've added a picture because I got sick of the ferris wheel thingie and there in lies a tale. Once upon a time I was waiting for an audition for a German production. The director came out of the audition room and picked up my paperwork from the desk. He looked at the second page (my head shot), smiled slightly and announced "John Cleese?" This was either good or bad. If you look like someone else you might get you a part if the director irrationally loves that person. Or it might kill all your… Continue

Added by Gary on December 22, 2008 at 12:03am — 5 Comments

The Two Step Program

Several years ago a group of people were discussing 12-step programs. This was sort of interesting because none of us were in one and none of us knew what the 12 steps were. An acquaintance suggested that people's problems could be solved by following a Two Step Program: 1. Get over it. 2. Stay over it. Give the man some points: +10 for cleverness, -100 for sensitivity. But when I was diagnosed I started thinking... OK, now I know why I have a foggy hamster cage for a brain and I have some me… Continue

Added by Gary on December 21, 2008 at 5:09pm — 6 Comments

Kumquats of the word unite!

Call me obsessive-compulsive, but I hate watching movies where alleged experts look like they've never even heard of the skills they're supposed to have. Like when "doctors" are doing CPR at the wrong speed and with loose arms. Last spring I started taking karate lessons so that, as an actor, if I needed to do a fight scene then I'd at least look like I wasn't a complete idiot. A friend put me in touch with her old dojo which has turned out to be a wonderful group of people. They grade twice a… Continue

Added by Gary on December 18, 2008 at 1:26pm — 3 Comments